Final answer:
Marginal thinking involves comparing the additional costs and benefits of increasing the level of an activity to make decisions, like determining the optimal level of pollution cleanup by assessing marginal costs against marginal benefits.
Step-by-step explanation:
Marginal thinking is a concept often used in economics and business to assess the benefits of a slight increase in the level of an activity compared to the costs.
An example of marginal thinking is deciding how much pollution to clean up by comparing the marginal costs of cleanup versus the marginal benefits. If the costs exceed the benefits, it would indicate that society could allocate resources more efficiently elsewhere. Marginal thinking requires critical analysis, estimation, and the evaluation of knowns and unknowns to make decisions.
These skills are not just about solving textbook problems but also about applying them to real-world, personalized situations. For instance, in environmental decision-making, marginal analysis is used to find the optimal level of pollution cleanup that balances cost with societal benefit.